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reefrunner19
Reviews
Of Good Report (2013)
Absolutely honestly?
It seems I have a knack for going against most of the praise that critics give to many films. I saw this film at the BFI London Film Festival of 2013, and absolutely honestly, it was probably the poorest film I saw there...and my opinions of the films I watched at the festival are completely polarised. Some were absolutely amazing, such as Lukas Moodysson's "We are the Best!" and Erik Skjoldbjaerg's "Pioneer", others were so bad they were fantastic to watch, as is the case with Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson's "All Cheerleaders Die"....and some were just painful to watch...namely "Of Good Report".
Let me explain why.
Black and white footage, non-linear storyline and a protagonist who does not utter a single word throughout the entirety of the film, it seems that writer/director Jahmil X.T. Qubeka is so bent on making the film look stylish, that it completely undermines the integrity of the narrative; for a premise that could have made for an excellent film. I was also completely unconvinced by Mothusi Magano's performance as Parker Sithole, his constantly blank and lost expression leaving no trace of intelligence for his character.
Now, I am not calling Magano a bad actor, as I have not seen any of his other films, and his poor performance could very well be attributed to sloppy direction on Qubeka's part, and vice versa.
I dislike encouraging people to not watch a certain film, as it is up to them to decide, and I am sure as many viewers would disagree with my critique as the ones who side with it. Having said that, I would not recommend this film at all. Sloppy, over-stylised and just plain B-O-R-I-N-G.
Tom à la ferme (2013)
Could not disagree with the reviews more.
A very subjective review, and I hate having to put down a film (as an aspiring film director myself), but I would just want to present my personal view of the film, hopefully without ruining it for any of Dolan's fans or anyone who worked on the film. WARNING: This review may be harsh.
I saw it at the BFI London Film Festival back in October of 2013. The second film I saw at the festival (following Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity"). Having heard of Xavier Dolan's apparently impressive skills vastly out-spanning his young years, I entered the theatre with much anticipation, and excitement given my immense love for psychological thrillers. Unfortunately, I could not be more disappointed with a film than I was with "Tom At The Farm".
FAR too long for the slow pace of the story, I feel that the narrative does not amount to anything. The audience is made to wait an hour and forty-five minutes, and is aching for Tom to just leave the farm, which when he finally does, everything in the story is left completely unresolved. A waste of time in my opinion. An agonising wait with little to no character development or resolution to conflicts to keep the audience interested.
"Tom At The Farm" utterly failed to keep me engaged, and just as much as I was dying for Tom to just leave the farm, I was dying to leave the theatre.